Painting Table Saturday 30th Edition + Ice and Fire

Painting Table Saturday turns 30! Well done Sofie! A superb effort and I'm happy to be a part of the celebrations. I came on board around #17 (Edit: #15), not expecting to have something new to offer every week. The fine painters in this blog community have inspired me to dedicate some time to painting, which is one of my joys in life.

Here we have a Song of Ice and Fire. Or, if you're as old as I am, Fire and Ice. In fact, that film (by Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta) has a character called Nekron that is a dead ringer for Elric of Melniboné, the original pale uber-sorcerer with a cool sword, Stormbringer. Although, even in Game of Thrones, when Joffrey Baratheon asks what he should name his new Valyrian Steel sword, one of his courtiers suggests "Stormbringer". Indeed, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire has also an albino spymaster (former Hand of the King Brynden Rivers), who is also clearly another echo of Elric.

Anyway, I will cease to ramble on, as more will be revealed below. This week I have completed two classic 1980's Citadel Chaos Dwarf miniatures, from my friend Bob. They both lost their weapons long ago and required replacements (an old ogre mace and a HeroQuest sword). A search of the internet gave me suitable guidance in this regard. However, as I mentioned this in a previous post I will keep on moving.

I have a new addition to my painting gear. A painting tray! It certainly enhances the painting experience. Goodbye to bread boards. I should have got one of these decades ago!

My new painting tray.

Early morning walks with Leah (the family dog) often bring ideas to my painting table. Sometimes they are subconscious and I realise the connection later.

Inspiration from nature.

 So, without further ado, here is the fire!

Now the ice!

Dwarf Lord and Chaos Dwarf.

Beards!

Note the shield holder in the background. Mighty Blu-Tac!

I often paint shields with wooden detail.

Someone lost their head! It was a HeroQuest zombie.

The base is frosty but the shield is missing something.

Green stuff for the shield boss.

We had our first frost this week in the Waikato and winter is officially here (New Zealand). Hence the theme for this edition of Painting Table Saturday. The Frost Dwarf is incredibly hirsute, almost like a small Yeti, making him a perfect match for snowy terrain. His shield design is inspired by the Warhammer Chaos insignia, which of course originally comes from Michael Moorcock.

Inspired by Michael Moorcock.

Games Workshop borrowed heavily from Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series. One example is the Symbol of Chaos (eight arrows in a radial pattern), also called the Arms of Chaos, Arrows of Chaos, Chaos Star, Symbol of Eight, etc. Moorcock conceived this symbol while writing the first Elric of Melniboné stories in the early 1960's:

"I drew it at my kitchen table while thinking up suitable symbols for Law (a single arrow) and Chaos (eight arrows representing all possible choices). Games Workshop couldn't exist without the things they've ripped off from me and Tolkien. If they'd made more of the material, I wouldn't mind. But they've dumbed it down, too. Sometimes I get weary of this crap. Other times, people remind me, that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. A more sincere form of flattery than that, of course, is when they ask you first. As I've often said -- they can say it's flattery, but that's the flattery of the guy you catch in your apartment when you come home at night and he's just heading for the fire escape with your new TV. 'Great taste in TVs, man,' he says..."

It was thereafter adopted into pop culture. Of course, the more astute of you may realise that it also looks like a compass!

The one on the right has had his first game already. Callum picked the miniature to represent his character 'Fireskull the Dwarf' in our D&D campaign - and survived the first dangerous session! Frogmen, a duckbilled lizard-beast, giant jungle spiders and rat-monkeys (Runkeys) all learned to fear his blade!

Welcome to the jungle! Spiders from the $2 shop.

God bless you all this weekend and happy painting!